Soviet Dissidents & Balance of Power

A t first it appeared that we in the West were once again fated to watch helplessly as the media relayed reports of another East European tragedy. Amalrik’s sentence was doubled, Medvedev’s passport revoked while he was in England, Solzhenitsyn received death threats, Sakharov was attacked by the press. Krasin and Yakir were held for a year (three months longer than legal), and recanted in a closed trial that brought back memories of the ’30s; then they suddenly surfaced at a news conference, which reminded us that these are the ’70s and the game is being played by new rules.

These new rules go by the name of detente but how much they are changing, how much only obscuring the nature of the game, of course r...